


invincible (and the secret to saving the world)

by MintGreenDreams



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Kingdom Hearts III Spoilers, M/M, Power of Friendship, Pre-Relationship, italics heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26699713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintGreenDreams/pseuds/MintGreenDreams
Summary: “What are you smiling about?”The silence was broken, but not the utter contentment flowing from Riku in wave after contagious wave. He was practically glowing, little smirk settled firmly on his mouth, like he hadn’t just come back from the cold, uncaring depths of the Realm of Darkness. Like he’d smirked when they were children.And Sora knew it was the same smile, because even when Riku knew he was caught, it didn’t dim in shame.—Or, Sora and Riku have a talk where Riku gives absolutely everything and nothing away at the same time, and Sora is a hands-on learner. So, the usual.(Set during KHIII)
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	invincible (and the secret to saving the world)

**Author's Note:**

> I knocked this out in one night and it's unedited. I am communicating through written word because I can't directly imprint Soriku into your brain like I wish I could so this will have to do!!!
> 
> Title absolutely does not fit the fic but I'm using it anyway look at me go wheeeee

It was right after their meeting with Master Yen Sid that the King dismissed the two of them to, in his words, ‘bring each other up to date’. With what, Sora couldn’t tell — he’d been eager to tell Riku about his adventures, like he’d always been, but he couldn’t exactly say he’d had any _progress_ , what with the Power of Waking still missing and all. And given the earlier meeting, Riku didn’t have anything to report either — Aqua hadn’t been found, Riku’s keyblade had been broken, and that was it.

And that was the _thing_ , see, because when Riku pulled Sora — already a weird break in the norm of their dynamic — down the everchanging stairs of the tower into the small garden in front, he had a smirk like all the worlds had already been saved, unfitting of someone who had, by all means, utterly failed in his mission so far.

Something sad struck Sora at how he’d come to think of their results in terms of failing or succeeding.

More willing to indulge in the Rare And Elusive Riku Smile than in his own self pity, Sora kicked at the grass a little more forcefully, bringing the attention to himself.

“What are _you_ smiling about?”

The silence was broken, but not the utter _contentment_ flowing from Riku in wave after contagious wave. He was practically glowing, little smirk settled firmly on his mouth, like he hadn’t just come back from the cold, uncaring depths of the Realm of Darkness where they’d been stuck together, ready to accept an eternity of sitting at the dark shores of the abyss not half a year before. Like he’d smirked when they were children, before there was any talk of rafts, or rivalries, when he’d smiled with a confidence that could carry him deep in the secret place, across the forest and to the other side of the play island, into the deepest parts of the water.

And Sora knew it was the same smile, because even when Riku knew he was caught, it didn’t dim in shame.

In fact, when Sora stopped in his tracks to squint at him, the smirk widened into a self-satisfied _grin_ , mirth folding Riku’s eyes around the corners like he knew something Sora didn’t. He passed him, sauntering a last step or two, pose relaxed, and faked thinking Sora’s question over with a long hum.

“Oh, I don’t know.” His smile was even evident in his _voice_ , he was so proud of himself. It made Sora’s tension fade away too, replaced by the warm feeling that seemed to swell out Riku’s heart into his own. They were both smiling now.

“Something you’re hiding from me?”

“Maay-be.”

Where Sora would once pout and stomp stubbornly, he narrowed his eyes further, tilting his head forward to catch Riku’s gaze again — his eyes were _glowing_ — to raise his eyebrow at him.

“Being a Master feels that good, huh.” It wasn’t posed as a question, even if Sora didn’t know if he was right in his assumption that Riku freed himself from his guilt because of the recognition he’d finally gotten through the Mark of Mastery some months prior.

But Riku just shook his head. “Nah. That doesn’t matter.” 

At the blank look he receives, Riku barks out a laugh. “What’s with that _face?!_ ”

Sora keeps staring at him, tugging his eyebrows from where they shot into his hairline to a furrow over his nose.

“What,” Riku asked, between giggles. Giggles! How could he say something like that and giggle!

“ _‘Doesn’t matter’_ ,” Sora repeated back at Riku, stressing every word, trying to convey how stupid he sounded when he said it. 

Riku kept smiling. Sora threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Doesn’t matter!” Riku laughed again at Sora’s theatrics, but Sora kept going. “ ‘Doesn’t matter’, he says!! First it’s _‘Oh I don’t know Sora I think I still have darkness inside me’_ ,” he speaks in his most offensive Riku impression, pitching his voice low and nasally and absolutely _infuriating_. Riku is turning an endearing but dangerous looking shade of red from how hard he’s laughing. “And _now_ it’s “ _Nah, Sora, that_ ** _doesn’t matter_** _!”_

Riku kept laughing, openly, with a joyful abandon Sora hadn’t seen in so, so long. When it was dying down to a couple hiccups, Sora almost dove forward to attack Riku’s sides with his fingers, see if he could keep that laugh on his lips for as long as possible. He could’ve done that with that old black vest with a busted zipper. Screw Riku’s stupid shirt tucked into his stupid pants, and his stupid paralyzing smile that deterred Sora from doing anything other than stare.

“Well, sure, it matters, I guess,” Riku conceded once he managed to regain his composure, failing to contain a snort when Sora levelled him with another unimpressed stare and a muttered ‘he _guesses_ ’. “I _am_ glad I took the exam, Sora, just… not because I became a Master.”

Sora could feel his own face soften at Riku’s tone. He tilted his head, a _‘well?'_ conveyed in the gesture, waiting for something, any explanation.

Riku’s expression turned so vulnerable for a moment, his eyebrows upturned and his smile soft that Sora startled as his heart rate spiked suddenly, making him blink — and at that point it was gone, lost to something smug and cocky and still absolutely radiant, head cocked to the side and eyes closed almost in challenge to whoever wanted to take it.

“ _I’m_ stronger than any Master, actually,” he said, and Sora believed him.

Still, he teased. “Stronger.”

“Yup.”

“Than _any_ Master?”

“Uh-huh.”

Sora tilted his head into Riku’s personal space, hands on his hips. Riku mirrored him immediately. “Strong enough to fight Xehanort?”

“An entire army of them.”

“Enough to defeat the Darkness?”

“I did that already.”

“And the Light?”

Childish, like Sora had said something silly, Riku scrunched his nose. “It _is_ my Light.” He pauses at that, looking away quickly, considering, the lingering happy flush on his cheeks barely hidden by his shorter bangs. “It’s my Darkness, too, I think. Or, where they both come from.”

Sora can feel the way his confusion shows in his face at that, doesn’t bother to hide it. “So, your heart. Your strength is in your heart?” That was obvious, right?

“No-” Riku begins, snapping his gaze back to Sora’s only to immediately look away again. “No, it is, but. It’s something specific. A kind of strength I discovered I had, the whole time.”

Sora’s answer was only a hum, a short pause as he looked at the clipped grass beneath his feet. He wasn’t surprised Riku had his own strength, something that rivaled, even dwarfed Light and Darkness themselves. Riku’s heart had always been the scale of the worlds’, after all, always had the power to change them.

“A power only you have, huh…”

And Sora must have _really_ been lost in the conversation, because Riku laughed again.

“I’m not the only one, not by a long shot,” he said, tapping Sora’s chest with a rough finger, right over his heart. “You have it too, I’m sure.”

“Have _what_ , Riku?” Sora whined, and again Riku was sauntering away in the garden with a laugh, Sora chasing him with quick steps to keep up with longer ones. “Come _on_ , Riku, tell me!”

“No way.” And again Riku turned his head away, not letting Sora get his attempt at reading on his face what in all of the worlds he meant. “It’s a secret.”

“Yeah right, ‘secret’!” Sora lightly kicked at Riku’s shin from behind him, right in the gap of exposed skin between the cuff of his pants and the top of his boot, earning himself a startled yelp. “You’re just scared because I can take your new _strength_ and use it to kick your butt.”

“You probably could, yeah,” Riku groaned, rubbing the red mark that was conspicuously shaped like the tip of bulky yellow shoes.

“Huh?”

“‘Huh’, he says,” echoes back at him in a high pitched, forced falsetto, and when he snaps out of the confusion brought on by them, he’s greeted with Riku’s face _right next_ to his, hands cupped around his hands conspiratorially. “You’re the only one who can use it against me, so don’t tell anyone.”

And with that, Riku turned and walked further into the garden with another boisterous laugh, followed by Sora’s sputtering confusion.

—

It’s more than a month later when Sora suddenly remembers the conversation in the Mysterious Tower’s gardens.

He always kept it in the back of his mind, always turned that conversation over in his mind for hints of what Riku’s secret powers that somehow made him feel a little invincible and would definitely make him reckless could possibly be.

He searched his brain for answers for a second, just so he could say he had, and turned to his heart. Tried to feel in it something that made him powerful that wasn’t the keyblade’s legacy or the hearts inside his.

He kept coming up blank, and after a while, he forgot about it.

Only now did the question pop up again.

_What's strong enough to defeat both the Light and the Darkness?_

Sora watched as Riku walked away from him. Again, and again, again, he watched — as children, when he had a secret to keep. Older, when he found power in Darkness instead of Light. Older still, when Sora crossed the worlds to find him.

Now, again, Riku walks away from Sora, steps sure and firm, as he plants his feet and twists his keyblade and braces for the wave of fear and doubt and rage and _wrong_ incarnate that took their friends. That’s about to take _them_.

And again, just like the day in the gardens, under stars that glowed bright no matter the time of day, Sora looks at Riku and sees someone invincible. Not undefeated, but unshakeable nonetheless.

_A power Riku has… I’m the only one…_

Sora awakens in the Keyblade Graveyard moments earlier, feeling like he had a vision of a hopeless future, his mind rid of any thoughts of power unique to Riku or the strength to protect what matters.

Hours later, when the dawn surrounds him in its pink hues, Sora still doesn’t remember that conversation. He doesn’t remember being someone’s weakness turned into someone’s strength. He doesn’t remember steady steps or shoulders squared or battle cries.

He doesn’t, but when he leaves, his heart resonates with everyone else’s. He knows the force that brought them together, the power that actually woke them from their endless sleep, the strength to protect who matters.

When Sora thinks of the love he has for his friends, he feels invincible.

He’ll tell Riku he’s figured him out when he gets back.

**Author's Note:**

> *Writes an entire fic about Riku smiling and being happy and confident and proud because he is made strong by the Power Of Love because that's what he deserves*
> 
> Thanks for reading this thru to the end! Have a wonderful day, leave a comment if you're so inclined, talk to me about Soriku endgame on my twitter @/MintChini, all that Jazz. *fingerguns*


End file.
